The present invention generally relates to computer systems including resident energy systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to an energy supply system integrated on a system communication bus where the energy system communicates with other energy devices on the bus with a specific communication protocol.
The energy systems for portable electronic devices, such as cellular telephones, are becoming quite electronically sophisticated. Existing energy devices, such as rechargeable batteries, often have electronic memory and processing capabilities. An example of a rechargeable battery with memory is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,765, which issued on Jul. 9, 1996, to Kreisinger, et al., and is titled xe2x80x9cBattery with Memory for Storing Charge Procedure.xe2x80x9d Kreisinger discloses a battery charger system that includes a charger for supplying charge current and voltage and a rechargeable battery with a memory for storing specific charge parameters. The charge parameters typically are battery-related information governing the charging of the battery. The battery-related information stored in the memory of the battery can also include charge instructions for the charger or a specific procedure for charging the battery. Consequently, the battery must have access to the system communication bus in order to communicate the charge instructions or procedure to the charger.
Thus, in the prior art energy systems for portable electronic devices, only two energy system devices would need to share the system communication bus of the electronic device. However, a modern energy system can include five or more energy devices all interconnected to and communicating across the system communication bus. The increased complexity of communications between the various energy devices can disrupt other data flowing across the bus, such as the communication data of a cellular telephone, and seriously interfere with the functionality of the electronic device.
Accordingly, with the use of several energy devices that are integrated on the system communication bus, it is necessary to provide an adequate communication protocol such that the other energy devices can communicate without interfering with the functions of the other electronic devices, such as gauging, charging, communication, and the like. It is therefore to such an improved energy system having a satisfactory communication protocol between energy devices resident on the system communication bus that the present invention is primarily directed.